A documentary by Marie-Monique Robin. In English and French with English subtitles. Unrated. Plays Friday to Monday, August 1 to 4, and Wednesday and Thursday, August 6 and 7, at the Vancity Theatre

We have a horror reviewer at the Georgia Straight. But even Steve Newton’s cast-iron sensibilities might not be ready for The World According to Monsanto, a documentary look at the future of our planet that creeps up on you like a grey-suited army of corporate grim reapers.

By now, we know that international conglomerates are out to, well, conglomerate us as much as they can get away with. But the U.S.–based agribusiness giant Monsanto—the folks who brought us Agent Orange—is unique in its all-too-successful attempts to control human food sources. Essentially, they’ve done this by slapping patents on their own pesticide-resistant grain and collecting royalties on the seed while contaminating that of competitors, and then bringing suit against small farmers for “infractions” on corporate property.

Meanwhile, the use of Monsanto’s bovine growth hormone has had untold effects on the milk supply, and attempts in the U.S. to limit or even adequately test the effects of genetically modified foods and animals have been stymied by Monsanto-vetted (or -employed) stooges in the governments of Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and the two George Bushes. (Bush Sr. is seen, in a white Monsanto smock, assuring execs he’s “in the dereg business”.)

The documentary—itself made with international backers, including our own National Film Board—is occasionally awkward. Too much time is spent watching writer-director Marie-Monique Robin Googling info on her computer. For the English-language edition, the filmmakers sub a dreadful script reader for Robin’s narration, when even her heavily accented speech would be more effective.

But this approach is effective when a British Internet detective is seen tracking smear campaigns against scientists critical of Monsanto back to IP addresses at company headquarters in Missouri. The filmmakers also travel to Mexico, where native, nonpatented corn is mysteriously imperiled, and to India, where Monsanto’s GM cotton is causing farmers to commit suicide after record crop losses.

“It’s more powerful than bombs,” human-rights activist Vandana Shiva asserts. “It’s more powerful than guns. This is the best way to control the populations of the world, and they know it.”

With friends like this, who needs serial killers?